PORT ST. LUCIE — It’s 8 p.m. on Friday night, some six hours after the Mets’ spring training day ended, and at an LA Fitness a few miles down I-95, I am watching Bartolo Colon go through a high-intensity workout.
Yes, Bartolo Colon.
The Mets’ 42-year old righthander, whose ample physique makes him a common-man figure and fan favorite, but also an easy target for cheap-shot fat jokes, is on an empty racquetball court, going through a series of exercises with stretch bands: pushing, pulling, kicking, sprinting in place against various levels of resistance, as applied by Colon’s trainer.